Rail joint and method



Feba 16, 1937. R. E. FRICKEY RAIL JOINT AND METHOD Filed may 28, 1934 FII5 .J

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Patented Feb. 16, 1937 r UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE RAIL JOINT AND METHOD Royal E. Frickey, San Francisco, Calif., asslgnor to Welding Service, Inc., San Francisco, Calii'., a corporation of California Application May 28, 1934, Serial No. 727,929 9 Claims. (Cl. 238-448) This invention relates generally to the conconventional rail joint of the type with which struction of rail sections for use in conjunction my invention may be employed. with railroad tracks, to track joints which are Fig. 2 is a plan view of the joint shown in Fig. 1, commonly made between adjacent ends of rail with the joint bars removed, indicating hardened sections, and to rail hardening methods applicaareas applied in accordance with the present in- 5 ble to the same. vention.

In the past it has been found that rail joints Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional detail taken ralcng are subject to rapid deterioration due to severe the line 33 of Fig. 2. ,1 pounding upon the rail ends by rolling stock. Fig. 4 isacross-sectional detail taken'alo Such pounding causes a battering and flow of line 4-4 of Fig.2. y I metal at the upper edges of the rail ends, which, Fig. 5 is a plan view of a rail joint indicating together with relative up and down movements, the manner of heating which I prefer to employ, causes a chipping away of metal. Such detripreparatory to chilling to effect hardening. mental battering can be materially minimized if Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 5,fl,i ndicating the upper surfaces of the rail sections at the chilling or quenching apparatus in position over 15 joints are hardened to a material degree, as by the heated areas.

heating followed by chilling. Fig. 7 is a side elevational view of the chilling As hardening operations of the above character apparatus applied to a rail joint. have been carried out in the past, the hardened Referring first to Fig. 1, the conventional rall area has been extended the full width of the rail joint illustrated therein consists of a pair of rail 20 ball, under the assumption that such an area is sections l0, secured together by joint bars I I. necessary or desirable in order to most effec- Each rail section is of conventional construction, tively prolong the life of the joint. I have consisting of a ball portion 12, bottom flanges l3, found that there is a serious disadvantage to and a vertical connecting web 14. v

such practice. When a rail is in use there is a Referring now to Figs. 2 to 4 inclusive, in tendency for wear to occur along the inner side carrying out my invention the upper surfaces of of the rail ball, due to engagement with the the adjacent rail ends are provided with hardwheel flanges, such wear being particularly proened areas l6. Each area is in effect a hardened nounced on curves in the track. A hardened layer of metal which, although in thickness it layer of metal at a joint, extending to the inner constitutes a minor portion of the depth 01' theside of the rail ball, will resist such wear more rail ball, is of sufilcient depth to effectively effectively than the remainder of the rail ball, minimize battering of the upper edges of the with the result that wear will not occur evenly. rail ends by pounding from rolling stock. These The consequence of such uneven wear will be hardened rail areas need not extend for a great apparent; as the unevenness becomes more prodistance longitudinally of the rail from the 35 nounced, jolts will be imparted to the rolling center of the joint; in practice, a length of from stock, severe lateral forces will be imparted to two to three inches from the end of the rail has the joint, and the desired smoothness of operation been found to be sufiicient. In width, the area of the rolling stock over the track will be lost. is so dimensioned that its longitudinal-marginal After Such u eve W s Occurred a de edges l'l terminate short of the vertical side 18 4 mental de ee, e y remedy is to lay new of the ball. As an example of actual practice, rails Or to grind Off the p 'f metal Where the marginal longitudinal edges ll of the hardhardened surfafies have Teslsted F- ened area may be spaced a distance of, say one- It is an oblect of present {nventmn to half inch from the vertical sides I8 in a 130 provide a rail construction and oint therefor 1b. ran 45 whereby relatively hard laye? of metal will In addition to affording the hardened areas, it if gfg f i ggjgjg fggg g fgj 22 is generally desirable to trim oif or slot the adjao i of the rail ball. Afurther object of the invention cent )5? g i g i g or gms 5 is to provide a method for the treatment of rail opera e an 9 upper B s 5 ends, which will afford hardened areas for the of the ends of Tall secticlngs arg Freveleii to ubstantiall in accordance with the afford a Slot, as i ed a an e ex en- Jomts S y sion of this slot from the hardened areas 1 6 to the resent invention. p Referring to the drawing: inner side of the rail is of increasing width and Fig. 1 is a side elevational view illustrating a. depth. Likewise, the inner side ofthe joint is provided with a relatively wide and deep slot 20, which joins the inner end of slot l9.

As has been previously explained, the inside of the rail ball, particularly on track curves, is subject to considerable wear due to engagement with the flanges of wheels. For example, referring to Fig. 3, one side of the ball may be worn away to a contour indicated by the dotted line 2 I. Similar wear is indicated by the dotted line 22 'in Fig. 2. It is evident from an inspection of both figs. 2 and 3 that the hardened area or layer I 6 cannot in any way interfere with such wear. This is for the reason that the sides of the rail ball adjacent the marginal edgesof the hardened areas iii are not hardened, and therefore they wear away at the same rate as the remaindenof the rail. It is also evident, as has been previously explained, that if the areas I B were extended to the side surfaces 18 of the ball, and if such extensions of area l6 were of the same order of hardness, such wear would not occur evenly throughout the length of the rail and laterally protruding hardened surfaces would be formed at the joint.

' Wear upon the inner side of the rail ball, such as described above, is also accompanied by a pounding upon the inner edges of the rail ends, with the result that there isa tendency for metal flow to occur, particularly since the metal at this point is not hardened. The relatively wide slot 20, together with the widening of slot H! as it merges with slot 20, mitigates such tendency toward metal flow, and avoids detrimental efiects if metal flow does occur to a material degree.

Assuming that the rail sections are to remain in a permanent position, there can be no obiection to extending the hardened area to the outer side of the rail ball, since wear of the character to which I have referred is confined to the inner side of the rail ball. However, the arrangement which I have described, in which the hardened areas terminate short of 'both sides of the rail ball, is desirable in that it permits the rails to be reversed after one side of the ball has been worn to a serious degree. Likewise, such construction permits reversible laying of rail sections, where the sections are treated to provide the hardened areas before being laid.

Various methods can be utilized to provide hardened areas in accordance with my invention. However, it has been found desirable to utilize the general method disclosed in copending application Serial No. 660,544, in which a confined and limited area of the upper surface of the rail is heated by means of a rapidly moving electric are, followed by chilling by forming a confined pool of liquid upon the heated area. Proper limiting of the extent of the hardened areas can be effected by definitely limiting the extent of heating, or by limiting the area of chilling, or by both. Thus, as shown in Fig. 5, I have indicated heating by rapidly traversing an electric are over an area commensurate with the desired extent of .the hardened area l6. Following heating to a proper degree, open-bottomed boxes 23 are positioned on top of the rail, and a suitable chilling liquid, such as oil, is introduced through pipes 24. The lower edges of the boxes are provided with gaskets or like means for forming a seal with the upper surface of the rail, so that confined pools of liquid are formed upon the heated area. Pipes 26 are indicated for removal of the liquid for re-use. The time period of chilling is controlled to secure the desired degree of hardness, and following the chilling operation heat may be permitted to flow back into the hardened areas for tempering or drawing.

I claim:

1. In a rail joint having aligned rail sections connected by joint bars or like means, the rail sections having ball, web and flange portions, a hardened layer of metal in the upper surface of the ball of each section, the area of extent of each layer being for a substantial distance along the length of the rail from the adjacent rail ends and for a substantial distance laterally of the rail ball, to minimize battering of the rail ends, the marginal edges of the layers corresponding to the inside of the joint terminating short of the inner face of the rail ball, whereby the inner face of the rail ball may wear away evenly, the upper and inner edges of the rail ends being beveled to afiord a lateral slot which extends across the joint and joins an upright slot on the inner side of the rail ball, the inner slot being relatively wider and deeper than the intermediate part of the lateral slot.

2. In a method of the character described for hardening rail ends, heating and chilling an upper layer of metal at the end of a rail section to effect hardening of the same, and causing the hardening to be substantially limited to an upper area of the rail ball which terminates short of the inner side of the-rail ball.

3. In a method of the character described for hardening rail ends, heating and chilling an upper layer of metal at the end of a rail section to efiect hardening of the same, and causing the hardening to be substantially limited to an upper area of the rail ball which terminates short of both the inner and outer sides of the rail ball.

4. In a railroad rail section having an 'ungrooved ball, and also having web and flange portions, a hardened layer of metal in the upper sur-, face of the ball, the area of extent of said layer being for a substantial distance along the length of the rail section from one end thereof and for a substantial distance laterally of the rail ball,

to minimize battering of the rail end, the hard ened layer being of substantial depth, that longitudinal marginal edge of the layer, corresponding to the inside of the rail section when laid in a track, terminating short of the inner surface of the rail ball, whereby the inner face of the ball which engages the wheel flanges may wear away evenly.

5. In a railroad rail section having an ungrooved ball, and also having web and flange portions, a localized layer of metal in the upper surface of the ball, which is substantially harder than the remainder of the rail metal, said layer having substantially the same essential ingredients as the remainder of the rail metal, the areas of extent of said layer being for a substantial distance along the length of the rail section from one end thereof and for a substantial distance laterally of the rail ball, to minimize battering of the rail end, the layer being of substantial depth, the longitudinal marginal edges of the layer terminating short of both sides of the rail ball.

6. In a rail joint having aligned rail sections connected by joint bars or like means,- the rail sections having an ungrooved ball, and also having web and flange portions, a localized layer 01' metal in the upper surface of the ball of each rail section which is substantially harder than the remainder of the rail metal, the hardened layer being of substantial depth, the area of extent of each layer being for a substantial distance along the length of the rail from the adjacent rail ends for a substantial distance laterally of the rail ball, to minimize battering of the rail ends at the joint, the marginal edges of the layers corresponding to the inside of the joint, terminating short of the inner faces of the ball, whereby the inner face of the rail ball may wear away evenly.

7. In a rail joint having aligned rail sections connected by joint bars or like means, the rail sections having an ungrooved ball, and also having web and flange portions, a localized hardened layer of metal in the upper surface of the rail ball of each section, the hardened layer being of substantial depth, the area of extent of each layer being for a substantial distance along the length of the rail from the adjacent rail ends and for a substantial distance laterally of the rail ball, to minimize battering of the rail ends, the longitudinal marginal edges of the layers terminating short of both the inner and outer edges of the rail ball.

8. In a method of the character described for hardening rail ends, heating an upper layer of metal at the end of a rail section, and then effecting localized contact of the heated metal with a chilling liquid to harden the same, contact of the chilling liquid being limited to an area which terminates short of the inner side of the rail ball.

9. In a railroad rail section having an ungrooved ball, and also having web and flange portions, a hardened layer of metal of substantial depth in the upper face of the ball at one end of the rail section, whereby the tip of the rail section resists the pounding of rolling stock, said layer being substantiallylocalizedwith respect to the inner face of the rail ball whereby the inner face of the rail ball in the proximity oi said area can wear away to a substantial extent at substantially the same rate as portions of the inner face remote from said hardened area.

ROYAL E. FRICKEY. 

